Keys To The Shop : Equipping Coffee Shop Leaders

Coffee is great! Keeping it consistently great in the shop is a challenge and there are many tactics and tools to apply in learning more about coffee and applying what we learn in the shop. But what happens when we allow our pursuit of more coffee knowledge become a distraction from focusing on needed areas of improvement and maintenance in the cafe?

Today on Shift Break we will be talking about how our focus on coffee, while needed to a degree, can become an escape from confronting, focusing on, and growing in other very important areas of the business and the relationship with people we manage in the shop.

Stay tuned for a new episode next week with returning guest Maxwell Dashwood talking about the need for maintenance of excellence in contrast to our pursuit of innovation and novelty.

Related episodes:

• SHIFT BREAK : Trends You Can Ignore
• 502: Creating Meaningful Coffee Experiences
• 469: Unremarkable Hospitality and Cafe Terroir
• SHIFT BREAK: Reassessing Growth
• 390 : 7 Ways to be Consciously Competitive
• 275 : The Changing Landscape of Cafe Spaces w/ Dr. Jennifer Ferreira
• 421: Encore Episode: Simple, Powerful, Hospitality w/ Philip Paul Turner

If you are a cafe owner and want to work one on one with me to bring your shop to its next level and help bring you joy and freedom in the process then email [email protected] of book a free call now:

https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min

Thank you to out sponsors!

Everything you need for back of the house operations https://rattleware.qualitybystainless.com/

The best and most revered espresso machines on the planet: www.lamarzoccousa.com

The coffee industry, specifically the coffee shop, has been changing. Trends and fads come and go, but movements are born from a collective need to evolve and mature toward a better way of operating professionally. It is not the trends that you need to worry about not getting in line with, but the movements.

Today we will be covering five areas that have been changing in the coffee shop sector that I believe every owner and operator needs to embrace. These areas cover a virtually all corners of your business from the coffee itself, to the people making it, and how you lead and grow as a leader.

In this conversation we discuss:

• Embracing the Five Movements in Coffee
• Prioritizing Hospitality in Coffee Shops
• Building Social Identity and Online Presence
• Creating Accessible Coffee Products
• Focusing on Customer Success
• Reforming Leadership in the Coffee Industry

Related episodes:

• 502: Creating Meaningful Coffee Experiences
• 430 : Embracing "Unreasonable Hospitality" w/ Will Guidara | Thank You NYC + The Welcome Conference
• Building an Accessible Coffee Menu w/ Joe Marrocco
• 6 Truths About Power
• 069: Hosting Consumer Coffee Classes

Get the best brewer and tool for batch espresso, iced lattes, and 8 minute cold brew! www.groundcontrol.coffee

The world loves plant based beverages and baristas love the Barista Series! www.pacificfoodservice.com

Want a beautiful coffee shop? All your hard surface, stone, and brick needs!

www.arto.com

Follow on Instagram! @Artobrick ....

and tell them Chris sent you!

So many great ideas come from conversations, trade shows, podcasts, books, and videos. Ideas and epiphanies that will make your coffee shop better and solve problems that have plagued you and your team for too long. But how do you take the first step to apply those ideas why you feel you don't have the time.

On today's episode of Shift Break we will answer frequent question I get asked when I am speaking at a conferences and with clients, how do I find the time to do these things when I am already as busy as I am?

Good news, it is simpler than you think.

Related Episodes:

• 399: Encore Episode! How to Change Things in the Cafe
• 489: Tips for Creating a Resilient Cafe
• 498: 10 Small Things to Fix in Your Coffee Shop This Week
• SHIFT BREAK : Evolution Through Small Steps

If you are a cafe owner and want to work one on one with me to bring your shop to its next level and help bring you joy and freedom in the process then email [email protected] of book a free call now:

https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min

Thank you to out sponsors!

Everything you need for back of the house operations https://rattleware.qualitybystainless.com/

The best and most revered espresso machines on the planet: www.lamarzoccousa.com

We all say that guest experience is the most important thing. I would agree, but exactly what do we mean by this? In today's marketplace we are hyper focused on efficiency over effectiveness. The result is that what passes for what we believe makes a great coffee experience, is something unsustainable, ineffective, but flashy and largely based on a trend instead of truly fulfilling the core needs of a customer in our coffee shop.

Today we will be discussing what a truly meaningful guest experience needs to get right before skipping to the bells and whistles that are poor replacements for the basics done well.

In this conversation we discuss:

• Customer desire for something that can fit into the fabric of their lives.
• Why the word 'experience' can mean many things, often leading to confusion.
• Meeting baseline expectations is crucial for customer satisfaction.
• Innovation and focusing on people, not just technology.
• How trust is built through consistent service and quality.
• Basic beverages should be executed with excellence.
• Hyper branding does not compensate for poor service.
• Unique experiences should come after mastering the basics.
• Customer experience is about hospitality and care.
• Why doing basics well transforms businesses

Related episodes:

• 430 : Embracing "Unreasonable Hospitality" w/ Will Guidara | Thank You NYC + The Welcome Conference
• 489: Tips for Creating a Resilient Cafe
• 045 : Simple, Powerful Hospitality w/ Philip Turner
• 424: Developing Menu and Hospitality Guides

Get the best brewer and tool for batch espresso, iced lattes, and 8 minute cold brew! www.groundcontrol.coffee

The world loves plant based beverages and baristas love the Barista Series! www.pacificfoodservice.com

Want a beautiful coffee shop? All your hard surface, stone, and brick needs!

www.arto.com

Every coffee shop hosts within its walls countless stories. The life that happens on the pltform of a cafe is just breath taking. This includes stories that showcase you and your team's values in action. Wil Guidara talks about these as legends that embody the and illustrate what we are all about. Be this as it may, stories somehow do not take up very much, if any, time or attention when we onboard, train, and talk about the work with our staff

On today's episode of Shift Break we will be talking about why you need to be paying attention to the moments in your cafe that demonstrate the real life applications of the t and values you espouse. Doing this as a discipline and rhythm will both deepen your appreciation for what your cafe creates in the lives of others and make it more likely those stories continue to unfold well into your shop's future.

Related Episodes:

Your Employee Handbook is Worthless

165: The Art of Deep Listening w/ Oscar Trimboli

181 : Organizational Self-Knowledge

476: Founder Friday! The Story of Story Coffee w/ Don Niemyer of Story Coffee Co.

If you are a cafe owner and want to work one on one with me to bring your shop to its next level and help bring you joy and freedom in the process then email [email protected] of book a free call now:

https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min

Thank you to out sponsors!

Everything you need for back of the house operations https://rattleware.qualitybystainless.com/

The best and most revered espresso machines on the planet: www.lamarzoccousa.com

Translating coffee from one form to the next, and serving it in a way that further translates the value of that coffee into a rewarding experience for the drinker, is what the craft of coffee is all about. Today's guest has gone from translating languages to working full time in roasting and serving coffee and has some critically important insights to share from her journey.

We are talking with 2024 Brewers Cup Champion from Turkey, Nida Fetullahoğlu !

Nida has been in the coffee industry since 2017. From Ankara, Turkey, Nida had a different career before coffee where she studied english translation and interpreting in college and has translated 4 books into Turkish on different subjects. Nida started as a barista in a boutique coffee shop in Ankara and fell in love with it thanks to the people she met along her career. She has been roasting since 2020 and is currently working in Tetra N Roastery as a junior roaster. This year (2024) Nida became the Brewers' Cup Champion of Turkey this year and placed 18th in the world championship!

In this conversation we discuss:

• From Barista to Roaster and gaining deeper understanding
• The Challenges of Roasting and Retail
• Navigating Criticism and Building Resilience
• The Role of Teamwork in Competition Success
• Integrating Experience into Competition Routines
• Future Focus: Sustainability and Team Building in Coffee
• Bridging Traditional and Specialty Coffee Cultures together
• The Art of Translation in Coffee and Communication

Related episodes:

• 003: The Role of Mentorship in Specialty Coffee w/ Pete Licata
• 484: Demystifying Mentorship w/ Dr. Ruth Gotian, Author of "The Financial Times guide to Mentorship
• 382 : Hospitality, Innovation, and the Birth of a Brewer w/ Etkin Design Co-founders, Michael Butterworth and Özgür Jerdan.
• SPECIAL! | Coffee Fest NOLA 2024 w/ Turgay Yildizli of Specialty Turkish Coffee, Doron Petersan of Sticky Fingers Sweets and Eats, and Jonathan Riethmaier of Mammoth Coffee

Get the best brewer and tool for batch espresso, iced lattes, and 8 minute cold brew! www.groundcontrol.coffee

The world loves plant based beverages and baristas love the Barista Series! www.pacificfoodservice.com

Want a beautiful coffee shop? All your hard surface, stone, and brick needs!

www.arto.com

The allure of easily producing documents and processes for your coffee shop through AI is strong. Using tools to support your business in a thoughtful way is one thing, but too many times I hear about people all but completely outsourcing the task that should be taken on by those who can create with nuance, to software.

On today's episode of Shift Break we will talk about what we lose when we use these to-good-to-be-true "solutions" and why the difficulty of creating effective systems, policies, and structures are a necessary part of growing a sustainable people-first business.

Related Episodes:

SHIFT BREAK: When Numbers Lie

SHIFT BREAK: Quality Still Matters

The Myth of Hands Off / Automated Leadership

You Can't Automate Quality

If you are a cafe owner and want to work one on one with me to bring your shop to its next level and help bring you joy and freedom in the process then email [email protected] of book a free call now:

https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min

Thank you to out sponsors!

Everything you need for back of the house operations https://rattleware.qualitybystainless.com/

The best and most revered espresso machines on the planet: www.lamarzoccousa.com

The impact of the coffee shop on the entire industry is astounding. The beauty and transcendence of a well run cafe offers excellence and care to staff and guests alike, and provides an accurate reflection and consistent channel through which people get to experience the work of farmers and all hands in the value stream. It is this idea, that the cafe is hugely consequential element in the thriving of people in coffee, that drive this podcast.

On today's episode we are reflecting on the podcasts last few years leading up to main episode 500 (actual count of all episodes is 900+!) and giving some insight and guidance into the role of cafe, how leaders need to pursue growth, and what it looks like to develop a business with integrity and relationships at the core.

Designing, planting, and cultivating a great cafe is a craft in and of itself. KTTS is here to help you along the way as you learn and grow with it.

Thank you for your support!!!

Related episodes:

• 100! Why YOU are the Key
• 483: Encore: 6 Essential Qualities of Coffee Shop Leaders
• 485: Your Shop vs The Industry - How to Free Yourself From Dependency
• SHIFT BREAK : Trends You Can Ignore
• 067 : 6 Truths About Power : The Responsible Approach to Power Dynamics in the Cafe

All your hard surface needs! Masters of brick, tile, and stonework for your cafe!

https://www.arto.com/

https://www.instagram.com/artobrick/

Get the best brewer and tool for batch espresso, iced lattes, and 8 minute cold brew! www.groundcontrol.coffee

The world loves plant based beverages and baristas love the Barista Series! www.pacificfoodservice.com

Today on Founder Friday are exploring the story of Three Keys Coffee in a wonderful conversation with the founders, Kenzel and Tio Fallen!

Kenzel Fallen is Co-Founder and CEO of Three Keys Coffee. Originally from Cincinnati, OH, Kenzel received a BA in Economics from Duke University and an MBA in Finance from Rice University. After building a career as a management consultant and corporate risk manager within the banking and energy industries, she co-founded Three Keys Coffee in 2019 along with her husband, Tio Fallen. Kenzel is a Q-Arabica Grader and wears many hats for Three Keys, primarily focused on business & financial operations as well as strategic planning and growth initiatives.

Tio Fallen is Co-Founder and Director of Coffee for Three Keys Coffee. Originally from Decatur GA, Tio has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Florida A&M University and MS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. While working as an engineer in the energy industry, he began roasting coffee at home which soon expanded into a commercial venture that he started with his wife, Kenzel. His background in playing the trumpet for 15+ years influenced the branding and name of Three Keys, an homage to the valves of the instrument he picked up at the age of 8. He is a licensed Q-Arabica Grader and a licensed Professional Engineer (PE). Tio placed 9th overall in the 2023 US Roaster Championship Finals and 5th overall in the 2024 Finals.

Three Keys offers a more approachable and inclusive coffee experience through the sights and sounds of jazz culture, while remaining steadfastly committed to creating products that represent excellence and superior quality.

They are also focused on providing professional development opportunities for their staff and have recently opened up their first brick and mortar store, taking another step into caring for their coffee, and local community.

You are in for a treat!

We cover

• The Convergence of Life Stories
• From Side Gig to Full-Time Passion
• Elevating the Familiar: The Story of Three Keys Coffee
• Balancing Science and Creativity in Roasting
• Receiving Feedback and Staying True to Vision
• Creating Range and Accessibility
• Transforming Employment and Developing Thought Leaders
• Nurturing Growth and Aspirations
• Building a Local Presence through a Cafe
• The Power of Authenticity in Business
• Maximizing Energy

Links:

• www.threekeyscoffee.com
• https://www.instagram.com/threekeyscoffee/

Related Episodes:

• 423 : Founder Friday! w/ Danny and Michelle Quiroz of Reserva Coffee Roasters | McAllen, TX
• 310 : Founder Friday w/ Jelynn Malone and Beverly Magtanong of Mostra Coffee
• 156 : Founder Friday w/ Lauren Crabbe, Co-Founder of Andytown Coffee Roasters, San Fransisco

The world loves plant based beverages and baristas love the Barista Series! www.pacificfoodservice.com

Workflow on the coffee bar is one of the most important things to design when considering how we will deliver excellent service and quality to our customers. Not only is it important to design your menu first and make the café design prioritize the production of that menu but you must also create clarity of responsibility within each station of that bar.

On today's episode of Shift Break, we will be talking about some principles for setting up effective station responsibilities behind the bar so that your staff not only have the have the best chance of success in serving the customer but also in helping on another during service.

Related Episodes:

• SHIFT BREAK: Wrong Fit For the Role, or Wrong Fit For Your Business?
• 420: Design Meaningful Roles in the Cafe
• Leaner Teams, Better Results

If you are a cafe owner and want to work one on one with me to bring your shop to its next level and help bring you joy and freedom in the process then email [email protected] of book a free call now:

https://calendly.com/chrisdeferio/30min

Thank you to out sponsors!

Everything you need for back of the house operations https://rattleware.qualitybystainless.com/

The best and most revered espresso machines on the planet: www.lamarzoccousa.com